Guide to Creating Or Editing Core Indicator Pages

Description

· Percentage of of road length at a given range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area.

· Percentage of of road length at a given range of posted speeds by type of road (four indicators): Percentage of of road length at a given range of posted speeds of specific type of road length (local, collector, arterial and expressway / highway).

An alternative indicator for advanced analysis to capture the varying approaches to posting speed limits on different road types; it can be used instead of or in addition to the recommended indicator.

· Percentage of local road length at low range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area (40 km/h and below -see definitions for suggested speed ranges)

Specific Indicators

· Percentage of of road length at a given range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area

· Percentage of local road length at low range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area (see definitions)

· Percentage of Local Road length at a given range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area

· Percentage of Collector Road length at a given range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area

· Percentage of arterial length at a given range of posted speeds in a defined geographical area

Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS)

The Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) establish requirements for the fundamental public health programs and services carried out by boards of health, which include assessment and surveillance, health promotion and policy development, disease and injury prevention, and health protection. The OPHS consist of one Foundational Standard and 13 Program Standards that articulate broad societal goals that result from the activities undertaken by boards of health and many others, including community partners, non-governmental organizations, and governmental bodies. These results have been expressed in terms of two levels of outcomes: societal outcomes and board of health outcomes. Societal outcomes entail changes in health status, organizations, systems, norms, policies, environments, and practices and result from the work of many sectors of society, including boards of health, for the improvement of the overall health of the population. Board of health outcomes are the results of endeavours by boards of health and often focus on changes in awareness, knowledge, attitudes, skills, practices, environments, and policies. Boards of health are accountable for these outcomes. The standards also outline the requirements that boards of health must implement to achieve the stated results.

Outcomes Related to this Indicator:

· Board of Health Outcome (Chronic Disease Prevention): There is increased awareness among community partners about the factors associated with chronic diseases that are required to inform program planning and policy development, including the importance of creating healthy environments.

Assessment and Surveillance Requirements Related to this Indicator

· The board of health shall conduct surveillance, including the ongoing collection, collation, analysis, and periodic reporting of population health indicators, as required by the Health Protection and Promotion Act and in accordance with thePopulation Health Assessment and Surveillance Protocol, 2008(or as current) (Foundational Standard).

Protocol Requirements Related to this Indicator

· The board of health shall collect or access the following types of population health data and information: Physical environment factors (Population Health Assessment and Surveillance Protocol, 1b)

http://www.ontario.ca/publichealthstandards

Corresponding Health Indicator(s) from Statistics Canada and CIHI

None.

Data Sources

Spatial Datasets (Line) necessary for calculations:

Roads Data (Ontario Road Network - ORN) (1) (Road Net Element version, as the Segment with Address version does not have speed limit attributes)
Original Source: Ministry of Natural Resources
Distributed by: Ministry of Natural Resources
Metadata URL: http://publicdocs.mnr.gov.on.ca/View.asp?Document_ID=17566&Attachment_ID=37853
Use: Generation of lengths of road values (or % of total) with speed limits

- OR -

Local Single-Line Road Network File (SLRN)
Original Source: (Local Agency, Government)
Distributed By: (Local Agency, Government)
Metadata URL: (Local Agency, Government)
Use: Generation of lengths of road values (or % of total) with speed limits

Spatial Datasets (Areas) necessary for calculations:

Area of Interest
Original Source: (Local Agency, Government)
Distributed By: (Local Agency, Government)
Metadata URL: (Local Agency, Government)
Use: Calculations will be based on the roads within these areas (e.g. health units, census geographies, etc.). If a health unit would like to know the kms of road length within their unit, they will need to have a health unit layer available to perform the necessary calculations. The source will be dependent on the area of interest.

Analysis Check List

· There may be other methods for calculating this indicator that are not discussed in this document. The preferred method should ultimately be chosen by the analyst performing the calculations.

· The purpose of this indicator is to determine the % of roads with a posted speed limit of X of the total length of road within a specific area of interest (e.g. health unit). As this is largely a location-based operation, the use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) is critical for reasonable estimations

· It is assumed that the analyst performing the calculation for this indicator is familiar with the ESRI suite of tools, including ArcMap. The standard ESRI software package (with no extensions) was used to perform all calculations. The calculations within this indicator can also be performed using other GIS software packages (such as MapInfo, QuantumGIS) but the processes and terminology may differ.

Method of Calculation

The calculation below assumes that the user has access to all the discussed data and has access and knowledge of a Geographic Information System (GIS).

(Total length of road with posted speed X (Km) / Total length of road (Km) ) * 100

OR

(Total length of road with posted speed X (Km) / Total length of road (Km) with a posted speed limit attribute) *100

· Two key spatial datasets are necessary to make the calculations within this indicator using a GIS: a road network containing speed limit attributes for each of the road segments; and an area of interest, such as a health unit, census geography, etc.

· The method of calculation for this indicator has three components:

o Calculation of the total length of road with speed limit X within the area of interest;

o Calculation of the total length of road within the area of interest; and

o Calculating the % of road lengths with speed limit X, as a % of the total roads (e.g. 18% of total roads have a speed limit of 50km/hr or less) within the area of interest.

· Use the roads dataset (likely the ORN), which spans the entire province and intersect it with the area of interest to ensure the road lengths (in the spatial attribute field in the table) reflect the length only within the area of interest. Once this dataset has been created, and tabular joins (and perhaps other spatial processes as well) have been performed, it can be used to generate both the total length of road with the specific posted speed limit as well as the total length of road within the area of interest.

Basic Categories

· Reference Geographic Areas:

o Census geography (e.g. Dissemination Areas, Census Tracts)

o Municipal Boundaries (e.g. Municipalities, Planning Areas, Neighbourhoods)

o Public Health Units

· Road Type:

o Local Roads

o Collector Roads

o Arterial Roads

o Expressway / Highway (see indicator comments)

To isolate measurement for each road type, limit the method of calculation to the appropriate category as follows:

Total length of (local/collector/high-volume) roads with posted speed X (Km) *100

Total length of (local/collector/high-volume) road (Km)

Indicator Comments

· This posted speed limit indicator is most applicable to land use and road types of urban areas, compared to rural areas where local streets and collector roads are fewer in number compared to arterials and highways.

· It must be noted that the intent of the indicator is not to suggest that street segments with lower posted speed limits are inherently the safest, as certain design parameters are required to reflect a higher design speed (e.g. sight distance, maneuverability on curves, etc.). It should be acknowledged that roads must also serve a mobility function, for which speed limits are designed on higher class roads like arterials. Mobility needs and built environment needs are often at conflict with the imbalance of the need for more walkable environments being introduced onto higher class roadways that must serve other mobility needs where other roadways cannot – particularly in the case of goods movement and high presence of truck traffic. Further research is being conducted to better capture these discrepancies.

· Parallel to motor vehicle movement needs, from a public health and active transportation perspective, lower motor vehicle speeds have been consistently associated with lower frequency and fatality of collisions affecting either pedestrians or cyclists. The risks and fatality of pedestrian collision is significantly less when motor vehicle speeds are 30 km/h or less than those traveling at 50 km/h or more (2, 3). This consistent with recommendations the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario (2012) Pedestrian Death Review. (4) In addition, the risk of fatal injury in an accident for cyclists is also lower when motor-vehicles travel below 30 km/h are associated with a higher than those traveling at 50 km/h or more (5, 6). This is particularly important in urban residential areas where the primary function of vehicular traffic and land use are appropriate.

· Expressways/highways are classified with the primary function of moving vehicular traffic, in order to relieve vehicular pressure on collectors and locals where healthier environments for walking and cycling are more suitable for promotion. It may be inappropriate to consider such road types when assessing posted speeds, as such roads are typically designed intentionally to have a speed of 80 kilometres per hour or greater in order to service the mobility functional classification.

· A general comment about single line street network lengths vs. total lengths of lanes: Most available Ontario road datasets are in the single line street network (SLSN) format and contain only a single line for each of the roads – and therefore reflect a single line road length, not separate lines (and lengths) for each of the lanes. This should be noted (and realized) when performing and analyzing the calculations.

· Regarding the ORN speed limit attribute field: The maximum speed limit assigned to a road element in kilometres per hour in accordance with Municipal By-Laws or Provincial Law. In cases where a road element has more than one speed limit value, the speed limit of the longest portion of the road element is supplied. –http://publicdocs.mnr.gov.on.ca/View.asp?Document_ID=9790&Attachment_ID=18619

· Data attributes for posted speed limits may not be available for all road segments in the area of interest – based on initial testing with the ORN – Road Net Element version.

· The Transportation Association of Canada includes a maximum design speed for urban collector roads of 80 km/h. Speeds are typically posted anywhere from 10-20 km/h lower than the posted speed (7, 8).

Definitions

· ROAD TYPES

o Local Road – A low speed thoroughfare dedicated to provide access to the front of properties (Includes ORN [NRN] road classes: Local / Street [7], Local / Strata [6] and Local / Unknown [5]. (1))

o Collector Road – A minor thoroughfare mainly used to access properties and to feed traffic with right of way (Includes ORN [NRN] road class: Collector [4]. (1))

o Arterial Roads – Major and high-speed thoroughfares with pedestrian access (Includes ORN [NRN] road classes: Arterial [3], (1))

o Expressway / Highway -. Major and high-speed thoroughfares with pedestrian access (Includes ORN [NRN] road classes Expressway / Highway [2]. (1))

· POSTED SPEED RANGES (km/h)

o 40 and below

o 50-70 (>40 - < 50 not used in Ontario (8))

80 and above for the higher category (>70 - < 80 not used in Ontario (8))

Cross-References to Other Indicators

· Traffic Calming Density (in development)

· Population Density (Section 2C: Built Environment and Health)

· Proximity to Community Focal Point (Section 2C: Built Environment and Health)

· Land Use Mix (Section 2C: Built Environment and Health)

· Job Density (Section 2C: Built Environment and Health)

· Commuting Population (Section 2A: Social Environment and Health)

Cited Reference(s)

1. Table: ORN_ROAD_CLASS_LIST. In: Government of Ontario. (2009). Ontario Road Network (ORN) Data Standard for Road Geometry and Attributes. p. 57. Retrieved from: http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/content/@mgs/@goits/documents/resourcelist/stel02_047435.pdf

2. Gagnon, F. (2014). A 30-km/h Speed Limit on Local Streets. Montréal, Québec: National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy.

3. Rosen, E, Sander, U., Pedestrian fatality risk as a function of car impact speed, Accident Analysis and Prevention 41 (2009), 536-542

4. Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario. (2012). Pedestrian Death Review

5. Grundy, C. S., Rebecca Edwards, Phil Green, Judith Armstrong, Ben Wilkinson, Paul. (2009). Effect of 20 mph traffic speed zones on road injuries in London, 1986-2006: controlled interrupted time series analysis. BMJ, 339. doi:10.1136/bmj.b4469

6. Kim et al., (2007). Bicyclist injury severities in bicycle-motor vehicle accidents. Accid. Anal. Prev., 39: 238–251

7. Transportation Association of Canada - TAC. (2009) Canadian Guidelines for Establishing Posted Speed Limits, Ottawa, ON, 2009.

8. Transportation Association of Canada - TAC. (2011). Geometric Design Guide for Canadian Roads.

Acknowledgements

Lead Author(s) / Fabio Cabarcas, Halton Region Health Department
Steve Johnson, Public Health Ontario
Sean Nix, Faculty of Engineering Technology, Mohawk College
Debeka Navaranjan, York Region Community and Health Services
Contributing Author(s) / Built Environment Subgroup
CIWGReviewers / Ahalya Mahendra
External Reviewers

Changes made

Date / Type of Review-Formal Review or Ad Hoc? / Changes made by / Changes